Fight over Cuba to dominate OAS meeting
Monday, 1 June 2009
WASHINGTON, May 31 (AP): A fight over Cuba's possible readmission into the Organisation of American States (OAS) is set to dominate the group's meeting this week in Honduras and may put Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in an uncomfortable position.
With numerous Latin American countries pushing to reverse the 1962 expulsion of the communist island nation from the bloc, the Obama administration's willingness to engage with Cuba will be tested at the session that Clinton plans to attend Tuesday.
US officials say they are ready to support lifting the resolution that suspended Cuba from the 34-country group but they insist on tying the island's readmission to democratic reforms under a charter the organisation adopted in 2001.
Nicaragua, backed by Venezuela, Bolivia and others, wants a more dramatic approach that would declare Cuba's expulsion an error and remove all legal hurdles to it regaining its membership, even though the Cuban government has said it is not interested in rejoining.
Diplomats at OAS headquarters in Washington have been trying frantically to forge a compromise ahead of the meeting. Nicaragua has threatened to press for a vote on its proposal.
With numerous Latin American countries pushing to reverse the 1962 expulsion of the communist island nation from the bloc, the Obama administration's willingness to engage with Cuba will be tested at the session that Clinton plans to attend Tuesday.
US officials say they are ready to support lifting the resolution that suspended Cuba from the 34-country group but they insist on tying the island's readmission to democratic reforms under a charter the organisation adopted in 2001.
Nicaragua, backed by Venezuela, Bolivia and others, wants a more dramatic approach that would declare Cuba's expulsion an error and remove all legal hurdles to it regaining its membership, even though the Cuban government has said it is not interested in rejoining.
Diplomats at OAS headquarters in Washington have been trying frantically to forge a compromise ahead of the meeting. Nicaragua has threatened to press for a vote on its proposal.